


An amorous advent

by Messyfruit



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Advent Fic, Christmas Fluff, Coming Out, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Modern AU, Pining, awkward teens, confession fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-08 20:45:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12872661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Messyfruit/pseuds/Messyfruit
Summary: It was finally December! And while he and Eren had agreed on the shared goal of making this the most Christmas-y advent ever, Armin had secretly set his eyes on a very special goal of his own: before Christmas eve, Armin was going to have successfully confessed his feelings to Eren. Definitely… Hopefully.





	1. December 1st: Selfie

“A truth you don’t say, is an opportunity taken away.” That was something Armin’s mother always used to tell him. Growing up, Armin had suspected her words to be nothing more than a warmhearted way of coaxing him into admitting to sampling their cookie jar; that little lesson of hers had never really struck a chord with him in any other sense than honesty being a virtue – until recently; as fate would have it, Armin was finally finding a deeper meaning within that motto: as the days were drawing ever closer to Christmas, as the temperature was dropping and leaves turned brown and lifeless, Armin was becoming aware of a warm and colorful feeling taking root within him. A feeling that seemed to detect – or rather monitor and grow accordingly – whenever his best friend was present. Blue-eyed as he was, Armin was no psychologist, yet nor was he a moron; he had fallen in love with Eren Yeager and he knew it all too well. But what more, he was having a difficult time daring to express that sentiment to the person who counted – that very boy who just so happened to be standing right before him on the steps to his house this nippy winter evening. That boy with his unruly hazel hair, beaded with raindrops today. That boy with his piercing eyes and a special sort of smile reserved only for his friend, apparent once again. That boy whose strong laugh and soft touches Armin’s thoughts seemed to be ever filled with. Oh, if ever he’d be granted a Christmas miracle, Armin found himself thinking, he’d like it to be the gift of courage to speak. Alas, all he could do was smile and feel his heart flutter, as he looked the other boy over.  
“Merry almost-christmas, sea star,” that red-nosed charmer exclaimed where he stood, looking for a moment not as cold as his cheeks told Armin he was. The front door thudded carefully against a potted plant next to them – forgotten between them as their eyes locked.  
“It’s December first,” Armin retorted eventually with warmth, laughing along to a bubbly sensation in his chest. He brushed a lock of hair behind his ear, and before the other could challenge his more relaxed outlook, he stepped back and waved the frozen boy inside. “I just need to put on shoes, then I’ll be ready to go.”  
“Awesome.” Eren wiped his shoes on the doormat and did a little jog on the spot, his energy snapping Armin out of his head. “Ok, so I have Mikasa’s gift thought out, and… ah. Mom’s? I think? How about you?” The plan was a run to the mall to get as many gifts done with as possible; both boys had a tendency to stall the shopping till the very last second, and thanks to a semi-dramatic close call last year, this December was purposefully scheduled to start off grabbing the bull by the horns.  
“Ditto.”  
“Cool. Wait, your mom, not mine, though. Right?”  
“Right.” Armin chuckled and shook his head as he focused on shoving his feet into a pair of well-padded boots. He couldn’t tell if Eren was joking or not, but he found that it didn’t matter, because he thought either alternative equally adorable somehow. “I was thinking maybe a headband for Mikasa, and a necklace of some sort? She’s so pretty, I feel like she should show her face more. And, uh, a necklace to… frame the face?” The shorter boy – now ready to brave the cold in his new boots and coat – pushed the door back open after it had blown shut, and stepped outside. Upon looking over his shoulder and seeing Eren’s expression, he supplied: “I watched a video on fashion tips last night. A necklace elongates your neck, apparently.” He dragged his feet down the driveway, hoping for the other to catch up and walk next to him. Armin had a secret mission, and it was currently simmering hot in his stomach as he noticed the analytical cogwheels beginning to turn and churn inside his cranium again. He caught himself holding his arm out slightly – just the slightest bit; enough to make it look open and inviting, in case Eren, say, wanted to take it.  
“If you say so,” Eren snorted directly behind the other – and then, to Armin’s heart-throbbing delight, he caught the open hand in his.  
Within a second, Armin was filled with internal jubilation, that – despite his amicable fight to seem unchanged – expressed itself as a slowly widening smile. “I don’t say so, the video does,” he said quickly, nerves urging him to fill the silence that once seemed so natural between them, but that had recently started to feel painfully charged to the love-struck teen. “If your neck is long and slim, chokers are good, but if it’s shorter or wide, twenty inch necklaces will help elongate it. Which is the goal, apparently.”  
Eren just chuckled.  
Thinking the other was no help at all, Armin kept chatting aimlessly all the way to the mall, excluding the bus ride that opened up for aided silence, courtesy of an mp3-player and shared earbuds. 

Getting the gifts over with proved more difficult than the two best friends had anticipated. Looking back on their earlier experiences with holiday shopping, Armin wondered why they hadn’t seen this one coming; as soon as they arrived at the mall, they made a beeline to a fashion store to grab a headband, a necklace and a new scarf for Mikasa, and for a while it appeared to Armin that things were going smoothly and according to plan – but the obstacles made themselves apparent as soon as they attempted to leave the store. Eren was the first one to spot the kids section, and it didn’t take Armin more than an arm-jerk from the other to catch on. There, on glorious display, lay Christmas hats and reindeer antlers, ugly knitted sweaters and candy cane socks galore, waiting for that festive soul to try them on.  
It took the boys exactly four seconds and a shared glance to agree that this had to be checked out – and for the following half an hour or so, they spent their time by the fitting room, chuckling and flailing as they tried on all the different combinations of knit- and headwear. 

“No, Armin, Armin!” Eren stifled his laugher as he tried lifting his phone; laughter had a tendency to make his arms weak, but he had to fight it – for the selfie! They’d been snapping photos together for every silly getup, and were currently trying to finalize their spontaneous project with one last photo – Eren in the Santa hat he’d taken a particular liking to, and Armin as his trusty reindeer (he’d suggested he was Rudolph, but Eren wouldn’t have it, due to the lack of a red nose). Although, it was proving a noticeable task, their giggle storms a worthy opponent; laughing was not only contagious, but also surprisingly exhausting – Armin would nearly call today a workout what his abs were concerned. Not to mention it made them both jittery and merrily unfocused; as Eren bravely attempted to hold the phone in place, he couldn’t stop shaking with an unreasonable amusement over the bells on Armin’s antlers jiggling. Oh, and it didn’t exactly make it any easier that Armin was fully aware of his amusement and kept shaking his head to provide more of it. But Eren was finally ready to fight, and he reached around the other with his free arm to hold him in place.  
“Shh! Armin! Let’s do this!” He gave the other a squeeze and cleared his throat. “I can’t hit the button if I’m laughing! Stand still – and smiiile!” He grinned wide up at the lens as his blond companion finally did as bid and gave a hearty smile as well.  
“Raindeeeer,” Armin sang through gritted teeth, his antlers wiggling to a halt as he froze for the picture. His cheeks were pink with warmth and the arm around him felt heavy in a comfortable sort of way. Buying gifts for loved ones was a nice pastime, but this was no doubt the highlight of the day; despite the few disgruntled glares sent their way (for “disturbing the peace of the kids section”, he presumed), Armin’s mind was filled only with joy, and his stomach only with pink hearts and butterflies. This was where he wanted to be: in Eren’s company, in the playful grasp of his favorite person. Completely secretly, he also cherished being in a changing room for how Eren’s t-shirt hiked up to reveal his stomach every time he changed sweater, how Armin got to see it, and perhaps most of all how Eren didn’t seem to mind.  
“Great! This one’s my favorite,” Eren said close to Armin’s ear, pulling the shorter boy back to reality. The teenaged Santa was holding his phone up in front of them to showcase the selfie, a light chuckle nudging the other through the arm that still kept them connected.  
Armin just looked at the side of Eren’s face. “Mine too.” He traced the other’s profile with his eyes, lingering here and there till he settled on quietly admiring the gleam of holiday spirit that he for sure could see in those piercing green eyes.  
It was December 1st, and while he and Eren had agreed on the shared goal of making this the most Christmas-y advent ever, Armin had secretly set his eyes on a very special goal of his own: before Christmas eve, Armin was going to have successfully confessed his feelings to Eren. Definitely… Hopefully.


	2. December 4th: Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren's late for class, giving Armin time to think about the weekend while he waits.

After a sweet first weekend of advent, it was once again time to return to school on the 4th of December. Armin’s head was still spinning with all the instances of close contact he’d had with his crush these past couple of days, and while he was normally so focused in class, this morning he was far away in all but physical presence. At the very back of the class, he sat hunched over his notebook, glossy eyed and with a small smile lingering at the corner of his mouth while he lost himself in thoughts. The last of his classmates were just finding their seats as the teacher was clearing his throat in an attempt to rope in their attention, but Armin’s focus was still somewhere else; first, a bus ride away, in a changing room where Eren’s arm rested comfortably across Armin’s shoulders – then in Eren’s back yard, on his trampoline…

It had been Saturday, the 2nd of December, and while the boys’ shopping trip the day before hadn’t proven as fruitful as they’d planned, meaning they’d have to do another round, the day’s trampoline date was still a go as per scheduled; Eren’s father had threatened to take it down for the winter and the two boys would be damned if they wouldn’t get in one last bounce battle before that happened. Bounce battle – being a simple game of ‘who can boost the other one higher into the air’ – was a game they’d started playing as as children, and never stopped enjoying since. The game being a summer centric game, however, they hadn’t played it for about a month or two by now, though – which was why they hadn’t taken into account the amount of layered clothing they’d end up having to wear this cold winter day. With less mobility, and the cold making the bouncy fabric creak threateningly underneath them, the boys hadn’t been outside for long before they ended up just lying next to one another on the trampoline instead of making good on their mutual promise to crush the other in Bounce Battle.  
Not that Armin minded – neither then nor days later – because if there was something he enjoyed more than being boosted sky high by a smug (always winning) Eren, it was being pulled close by him for warmth:  
“Shit, it’s so cold, man.”  
Armin was in the middle of telling some braindead joke when Eren had rolled over on his side and wrapped an arm around the other’s waist to pull him sideways into an embrace. Armin could hear the other’s teeth chattering faintly through the earmuffs he was wearing. “Uh… I know.” Truth be told, he wasn’t all that cold now that Eren mentioned it – he had been, yes, but not anymore; now, he could feel warmth spread across his cheeks, while he’d swear he could feel Eren’s body heat like a radiator – even through all of the thick clothes between them. Armin was usually prone to freezing, but this felt surprisingly comfortable. He turned his head a fraction to try and gauge his friend’s expression, but it was hard seeing anything from behind the massive knitted scarf he was wearing. What more, Eren was hidden inside a fur lined hood so all Armin could see was a forehead and a pair of relaxed eyebrows jerking slightly in time with his teeth chattering. He knew he was supposed to say something, but Eren’s modest shivers were lulling him into a fuzzy calm and he couldn’t break the spell.  
“…So… what did the tadpole say?” Eren carefully asked when Armin didn’t finish his joke.  
“Oh! Um… I… I don’t remember.” All of a sudden, Armin’s face was feeling too hot for comfort. He could feel Eren’s body moving with a silent laugh and to his horror, Armin couldn’t read him at all. What if Eren realized he liked him by how thrown off he was? What if this had been a test?  
“Good one, Armin,” Eren chuckled over the other’s internal panic. “Best joke. Ten out of ten.” And as if to add fuel to Armin’s analytical fire, Eren underlined his comment by running his hand up along his side, seemingly to reposition his arm – or maybe in an attempt to warm him? Well, it made another batch of butterflies spring to life in his torso all the same.  
“Mm…”  
“We can go inside if you want,” Armin offered, although he hoped with all his might that Eren said no.  
“No, it’s fine. This is fine,” Eren murmured a response between what seemed to Armin like low sounds of affection, before he drew a long breath. “Know any more jokes? …With punch lines?”  
They spent another forty minutes on the trampoline that day, just lying close together, telling jokes and looking at the clouds, until even Armin started feeling cold, and they eventually retreated inside. For the remainder of that day, Armin’s heart had been in the clouds, and his resolve to confess to Eren seemed all the more terrifying. 

“Hey, blob fish-!”  
A tiny piece of balled up paper hit Armin right beneath his left eye, and all of a sudden he was back in class, the warmth of Saturday memories leaving him quickly. Looking over, he saw the class jackass smirking back at him like he’d just told a joke.  
“What is it,” Armin asked quietly, looking past Jean to Eren’s empty desk out of habit although he knew he was missing; he’d gotten a text from him this morning saying he was running late.  
“Where’s your boyfriends at, blob fish?”  
“He’s late,” Armin answered straight-faced, not bothering to look back at the other.  
“Gross, you just admitted you’re dating,” Jean faked a gag, earning him faint laughter from select classmates around the room.  
“Why do you wanna know anyways?” Armin sighed and turned his head to lock eyes with the bully again, brushing a lock of hair behind his ear as he did. God damn it, he could feel his cheeks heating up. Jean was constantly on him about his orientation to the point where it was getting old, but Armin would be lying if he said it didn’t still get under his skin when his relation to Eren was brought up. “And no, we’re not dating,” he heard himself adding meekly.  
“Yeah, right.” Jean rolled his eyes so hard Armin was instantly reminded of The Exorcist. “Anyways, the teacher asked, you dipshit.”  
“Jean, enough,“ the teacher chimed in.  
“Oh!” Armin’s attempt at an unaffected expression fell, and he turned to look at Mr. Berner by the blackboard, cheeks ever reddening. “I’m sorry, sir! Yes, Eren’s running late. He’ll be here… soon? I think. He was on his way fifteen minutes ago, so!”  
Jean leaned over his desk to whisper: “probably picking up roses for you on the way, princess.”  
Armin ignored him and sank back in his chair, cupping his cheeks in an attempt to hide and soothe the angry red blush. Mr. Berner said something in response to Armin’s explanation, and then went on talking to the class. Armin didn’t catch any of it; he was long gone in thought again: bitterly, he had to acknowledge that Jean hadn’t been far off about the roses; switch today for yesterday, and roses for Christmas roses and he’d be spot on…

“What are those?”  
Sunday was supposed to be a boring day, with Armin having promised to spend all of it with his family. Not that he disliked quality time with his otherwise pretty elusive parents, mind, but he’d still rather spend it with Eren. Either way, the fact that he wasn’t supposed to see his adorable best friend today, took him aback when that very same boy had come ringing the doorbell after dinner all the same. With his nose red and cheeks rosy, Eren looked so sweet on the doorstep that Armin was tempted to lean in and kiss him the moment he saw him. What halted him, though – apart from the nerves and common sense, of course – was what Eren was holding in his outstretched hand: a small fistful of white Hellebore flowers.  
“Christmas flowers!” Eren exclaimed and was all smiles, despite how cold he must be, judging by the color in his cheeks.  
Armin blinked at him, brain working hard to process. Those couldn’t be… “For me?”  
“Yeah!” Eren stretched his arm out more, visibly eager for the other to accept.  
“Eren,…” Armin frowned and looked over his shoulder down the hall. He wanted to invite him inside to get him out of the cold, but felt a sting in his stomach over knowing he’d have to turn him away before long. Had Eren forgotten his grandfather was visiting today?  
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m just stopping by. I was in the neighborhood. I found these by the road and figured you’d want them,” Eren supplied once he noticed Armin’s hesitation.  
“You were?” Armin looked back at him and bit his lip to avoid giving away a too revealing smile. To hell with it: he waved the shivering Romeo inside and reached past him to close the door, tilting his head so he didn’t get into Eren’s space too much. The frozen charmer stood still on the indoor mat to let the other operate, flowers still outstretched.  
Wondered if his friend realized what a bad liar he was, Armin stepped back to look him over with a face now as pink as a peach; those flowers were from Eren’s own garden, no doubt about it – well, his mother’s garden, more precisely – and Armin couldn’t put his finger on why it felt like such a big deal, but it did. He wanted to tell him he’d come with them to the store the day Carla picked out the seeds, but decided against it a moment later, fearing he’d put his friend on the spot for telling a white lie.  
“If you don’t want them, that’s fine, by the way,” Eren muttered, looking past Armin at something. He seemed suddenly bothered, almost shy.  
“No! I love them! Thank you!” Armin hurried to take them from his hand, and lunged in for a hug. He lingered there, letting Eren wrap his arms around him to reciprocate the hug, and then kept on hugging him for fear of pulling back and letting the other see how pink his face had become. He hoped he wasn’t making a bigger deal out of this than it initially was, but even so, he couldn’t kill the sparks that were sending off tingles through his body – head to toe.  
Only when someone cleared their throat at the other end of the hall, did Armin let go of his friend; turning, he found his grandfather and parents crowding the doorway, all smiling in a manor Armin couldn’t place.  
“Maybe Eren would like to join us for a round of Yatzy,” his grandfather suggested with earnest care. And for the rest of the evening, Armin got to sit next to Eren on the sofa, while the flowers sat on the table before them in a cup (bless his heart, Eren had picked them too far up the stem so no vase was shallow enough). 

Armin was still musing over why Eren had brought him flowers yesterday, when the door to the classroom flew open half an hour into the lesson, and a familiar voice called out loud: “I’m sorry I’m late!”  
Armin’s head was instantly turned towards the door, and his stomach was doing summersaults within moments.  
Eren excused himself all the way to his desk, and then turned to wave discretely at Armin while the teacher lamented Eren’s late arrival for deaf ears. Armin smiled sheepishly and waved back. He thought he heard Jean snorting but he didn’t offer him a glance. Gosh, he really had to talk to Eren soon; he was head over heels. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, Armin told himself. There was always tomorrow.


	3. December 7th: Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin wants to tell Eren about his feelings today...

Tomorrow came and went, without a confession at that; the day had been pretty uneventful – cozy, with Christmas porridge at Eren’s house, but still rather uneventful. None the less, Armin had known from the very moment he woke up that rainy Tuesday, that this wasn’t a good day to confess his love to his friend: after all, in his most hopeful dreams, he pictured that Eren would like him back and kiss him the moment he came out to him, and if that happened, Armin preferred it to happen on a more memorable day – maybe during the first snow? Eren loved snow. So far, all they’d gotten was rain. Ergo, Tuesday wasn’t a good day for a romantic confession. The day after, it rained only harder, and thus the cycle repeated itself. The rain. Yes, that was definitely why Armin was stalling. 

Thursday, the 7th of December, however, Armin was slowly warming up to the idea that the sooner might be better after all: after being plagued by butterfly storms all day, the peak was reached when he followed Eren home after school and was gripped by the desire to take his friend’s hand as they walked. Now, holding hands was nothing new to the two of them – far from it; every now and then they’d reach out for one another and lace fingers without a word – but it was slowly becoming a source of turbulence for Armin. He loved holding Eren’s hand, but the questions and thoughts around how much it meant to Eren or whether or not he enjoyed it as much as Armin did, was making hand holding a strong reminder of how much he was holding back from his best friend.   
As such, walking next to the boy he loved – yet refraining to take his hand - Armin made an urgent vow that he’d finally express his feelings to Eren this very evening. Lucky for him, the plan was to do homework together and decorate Eren’s room, so there would be plenty of time. 

“What do you think of this?” Bless Eren; as soon as they’d gotten upstairs, he’d disregarded the homework and gone straight for the box of Christmas decorations waiting in his room. Grinning from ear to ear and digging through the box with both arms, he turned to look over his shoulder at Armin who’d settled on his bed with his legs crossed and a history book in his lap.  
“Of what?” The boy atop the covers gave a chuckle. Despite wanting to remind Eren of his homework, he figured he’d let the other enjoy himself for a little bit; he couldn’t resist the way Eren’s voice pitched when he got excited – oh, and that smile? If he didn’t know how oblivious Eren was, Armin would have thought his friend was giving him heart palpitations on purpose.   
“Of this!” Pulling out a tiny synthetic Christmas tree, Eren grinned even wider – if possible. “Remember this?” The decoration in his hand was probably the most hideous piece of ornamental item Armin had ever seen, with worn, balding branches, a set of fake eyes, and a foam guitar with a sound box glued to the front.   
Oh, Armin remembered that tree – and groaned to let the other know so. “Do you seriously still have that awful thing?” He was laughing as he said it, but memories of a time he was six years old and afraid of the singing tree at Eren’s desk were fresh in his mind. “What did you call him? Mr. Tree? Eren,…” Armin shook his head and put his book down (not that he was being distracted; he was too nervous about his amorous intent to read a word off the page anyways).   
“What,” Eren inquired, turning his body now, to face the other, tree in hand. Armin made a small movement on the bed, and all of a sudden, he thought he saw a sinister twist to the other’s smile.  
“What’s the matter? I thought you loved Mr. Tree?”  
“Eren, I’m not afraid of it anymore… Seriously. Eren!”   
But Eren wasn’t deterred: he was already walking slowly, slowly, towards the bed, grin ever darkening.   
“What do you think you’re doing? …Eren?”   
Unresponsive, Eren reached the edge of the bed. He stood there for a moment, smiling ominously at Armin who had moved to sit with his back pressed straight against the headboard in uncertain unease.   
“Throw it in the trash, Eren, it doesn’t even sing anymore,” Armin attempted, more a plea than a suggestion. His heart was beating with a mix of unreasonable fear and even more unreasonable excitement.  
Then Eren jolted back into motion, leaping onto the covers on all four. Armin screamed and started kicking weakly towards the tree in the other’s hand, careful not to hurt him, while his scream morphed into nervous laughter.   
“Eren! Stop it, seriously! What are you gonna do?! Eren!”   
Eren’s voice was a deep menacing growl. “He’s coming for you, Armin! Watch out, here he comes!” He let go of the tree for a second to grab Armin’s legs with both hands – then pulled hard, effectively dragging his flailing friend back down to a horizontal position.   
“Nooo!” Armin squealed and reached down sideways as Eren crawled to hover over him; for a split second they were both reaching for the tree, but Armin was quicker, and he flicked the tree as far off the bed as he could. He gave a triumphant yell, and fell back down with his head on the pillow, looking up at the other with breath strained with adrenaline.   
“No, not Mr. Tree,” Eren feigned a defeated lament, but offered the ornament no glance; he just kept hovering over the other, grinning.  
At first Armin just laughed, taking a deep breath, feeling safe. But it didn’t take more than a few seconds before he realized the position they were in – quite literally: with no tree ornament to hide behind, Eren had no longer any good excuse to be straddling Armin like he was, and Armin had no fake danger to be preoccupied with – instead, the nervous teen was becoming painfully aware of his elevated pule, their close proximity, and most of all the silence that amplified the sound of their deepened breaths. Without looking, Armin also realized that he was holding onto Eren’s wrists as they stood as pillars in the bed on either side of him, and his face flushed so fast he hardly realized it before his cheeks were scorching hot.   
“… U-um…” Oh god, think, Armin! His mind was drawing a blank. Looking up at the handsome boy above him, all Armin could do was try not to melt away. Where had all his speechcraft gone? Obliterated by the laser in Eren’s pupils as they were locked with his own, perhaps. Or maybe immobilized by the vision of Eren’s adam’s apple dipping as he swallowed. Was he leaning closer? Help, was Eren leaning closer? No, Armin was seeing things, surely. But his thighs were tightening against Armin’s hips, though. That, he was sure of. Maybe.   
“What… are you doing…?” Armin piped up, voice uneven. He tried to cover it up by giving a small giggle, but he just sounded on the verge of tears instead. Just as his heart was about to explode from his chest, Eren made a sound and pushed off from his position to sit upright, and Armin’s heart took a sudden dive into the pit of his stomach as he let his wrists go. Did he just break a spell?   
“I was looking for fear,” Eren said unconvincingly. A small, confused frown knitted his eyebrows closer together and he looked towards his window, scratching a spot on his shoulder. “You win.” It looked to Armin like it cost Eren a considerable amount of effort to look back and give a relaxed smile.   
“Heh… Yeah. I did.” Armin awkwardly placed his hands on the outsides of Eren’s thighs, and smiled back up at the other. Whatever had jus happened – or would have happened – he wanted a do-over, but had no idea how to ask. Instead, he asked: “are you gonna throw it in the trash?”   
Eren observed him; he observed him for so long Armin wondered if perhaps he hadn’t heard him. But as he was about to ask again, Eren swung off Armin, and laid down next to him on the bed.   
“Yeah. Like you said, he doesn’t even sing anymore…” Arms resting behind his head, he stared at the ceiling in silence while Armin watched him with a sinking feeling. “Let’s get our home work over with…”   
Whatever happened that evening, it threw Armin off really bad, and all the strength he’d mustered so far, disappeared. Fair enough, it didn’t take Eren long to be back to his normal self, and the rest of the day was spent laughing and joking and enjoying each other’s company – but no, the 7th of December sadly did not prove to be the special day Armin had hoped it to be after all. Oh well, he told himself; there were still plenty of days left till Christmas. There was always movie night…


	4. December 23rd: Love, actually

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movie night is Armin'd chance to make up for lost time after two weeks of having the flu.

Poor Armin; the following two weeks didn’t go as planned for him, not at all. As per his worst nightmare, he came down with the flu just a few days after the 7th of December, and he came down with it hard. He suspected the trampoline hangout was a big contributor to his misfortune, but as he lay days upon days bedridden, he found that it didn’t matter why; all that mattered was that he was miserable. Of course, Eren came to visit him every single day, which was sweet – but there would be no confession from Armin’s side as long as he was a sneezing, snotty mess; the picture perfect coming out wasn’t necessary, but Armin definitely had a certain standard he wanted to meet – because who knew, maybe there was a kiss in it for him? 

No, telling Eren how he felt had had to wait – for two whole weeks! It had taken strength for sure, as it became increasingly more pressing, every time Eren stroked Armin’s hair in empathy, or made him canned soup out of care, or dabbed a wet cloth over his forehead to soothe his fever; all Armin could think of was to sit up and pull the other boy tight, and then to kiss him. Passionately.  
Oh, if only his nose wasn’t so stuffy and his thought such a fevered blur. Not to mention, he figured he had to be reeking of sweat (not that he could smell it himself, what with his stuffed nose – but blessed be Eren for enduing it), and oh, how he knew he had to look awful, all clammy and pale faced as he was! No, confessing his undying love during those two weeks was out of the question. 

But poor, impatient Armin didn’t get better until the 21st, although by the 22nd, he was finally out of bed, and by 23rd, he was as good as fully recovered. School was out already, which was sad – since it meant he’d missed out on the last day – but mostly good, because it meant he’d get to spend more time with Eren. After all, he had a lot of wasted days to make up for, and a mission still not completed.

Armin had called Eren to let him know the day before that he’d be good for a hangout today, so this Saturday evening was slated to be their first Christmas themed movie night of the season. Better late than never. Armin had spent all morning trying to hype himself up about it; while he normally loved movie nights, this one was going to be nerve wrecking: he had looked at his options, and decided that today was the best chance to confess to Eren. He hadn’t truly committed to the resolve the first week leading up to his flu, but today was the day fore sure! Christmas was all too close by! Obviously, Armin was excited to finally get it over with, but the mere thought of it was still chilling him to the bone – even as he settled down in the couch next to the fireplace and was offered hot cocoa to “crank those Christmas vibes to the max”, as Eren so enthusiastically put it. Even in that seat a foot’s length from the fire, Armin was shivering. And even as dimly lit as the living room was – prepped for movie night – his tremble did not go unnoticed:  
“Man, it must be a lot colder outside than I though,” Armin heard Eren calling from the adjacent kitchen, the boy being a busy bee of a host. A few moments later, the jolly charmer rounded the sofa with two big bottles of soda in one arm and a bowl of popcorn in the other, peering over the supplies at Armin with soft concern on his face. “You look like an icicle. Are you sure you’re feeling well?”  
“Oh, no, I’m definitely good!” Armin gave an apologetic chuckle and let go of his cup with one hand to brush his hair behind his ears. Eren didn’t move, so figuring he was waiting for a more elaborate response, Armin put his cocoa down and shuffled back on the couch to sit more comfortably against the backrest before looking at the other. “Yeah, it was pretty cold walking over here. Guess my coat isn’t as warm as I thought. But I’m good.”  
“Hm! If you’re sure… Hey, isn’t your coat brand new?” Eren finally stirred, putting the snacks down on the table and turning his back on Armin to grab something atop the fireplace mantle.  
“Yeah, it is,” Armin softly acknowledged, following Eren with his eyes. Watching the orange haloed silhouette of his best friend in front of the fire, he wondered if the quietly humming boy before him was filling the silence from feeling awkward as well, or if it was only Armin who felt that way.  
“Heh. Genius Armin Arlert’s calculations were actually wrong and he bought a coat that isn’t warm enough for him. Even hell must the freezing over this winter!” Snorting, Eren was quickly making his way around the room as he spoke, lighting candles with the lighter gun he had grabbed. His voice was hushed but playful.  
“Oh, shush,” Armin scolded harmlessly in response, still watching the other closely. His cheeks were rosy from the remark, but weighing his options, he chose to let Eren think he made a mistake over telling the truth behind his trembles. At least for now; he hadn’t decided when to come out yet, but he was starting to lean towards saving it for later after all, as opposed to right away – the reason behind it being that he’d like to enjoy the marathon first, in case the news were badly received and ruined what remained of the evening. Besides, Mikasa would be joining them, and she’d be arriving any minute now. So unless Armin jumped into a confession right this instant, the best plan would probably be to wait till they outlasted Mikasa and she left them to watch the last movies by themselves later tonight. All in all, that plan was much better than biting the bullet, as per Armin’s initial plan. Yeah. That was definitely why he was postponing.  
Eren gave another snort and came to a halt in front of the window. Armin watched him pause and push the curtain aside, showing the other his back again.  
“…well, let’s look on the bright side. If hell has frozen over, maybe we’ll actually get snow in time for Christmas.” Eren’s voice was still intentionally contained – to fit the ‘Christmas serenity’ he seemed to be trying to get going, no doubt – but Armin could easily read his friend’s hopeful excitement, even just from the jerk of his shoulders.  
“Right.” The nervous boy on the couch inhaled and leaned forward to pick his hot chocolate back up. He knew Eren’s number one Christmas wish was snow, so he hoped for it on his best friend’s behalf; for himself, he didn’t mind awfully either way; he just wanted courage.  
Eren turned and met Armin’s eyes in the dark. Even with early evening moonlight at his back, darkening his figure, Armin could make out his eyes from the way they reflected the dancing flames around the room. It took his breath away.  
“Armin, do you mind if we start without Mikasa?”  
Oh. Armin didn’t mind, but Eren hurried to offer an excuse before he could let him know: “she’s running late, she just texted me. Earlier. So she said we should just start with ‘Love, actually’ since it’s her least favorite anyway.”  
“Mh, that’s fine,” the other nodded, fighting valiantly to seem calm and collected while a whirlwind of feathers was tickling his insides. This was his chance! Or was it? Wait, if he came out to Eren now and it went badly, Eren would have to tell Mikasa why they called off the movie night. Oh, and even if it went well, Mikasa would no doubt notice the changed air around them when she arrived. No, he’d still have to wait till she’d gone to bed; with her not being as much of a movie buff as them, she was bound to, after all! Right?  
“Great!” Eren’s shoulders sank in what seemed like relief. He cleared his throat and moved towards the couch, giving Armin a skip of the heart. Eren, however, passed by the furniture instead of siting down, and steered towards the kitchen. “Bee-ar-bee.”  
Armin wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw Eren wink as he passed. It sparked a warm blush across his cheeks as he waited, although thankfully the shade wasn’t visible in the dark.  
It took Eren a quick minute to return – now wearing his new santa hat. As he dropped down into the sofa next to Armin, the blond noticed a faint scent of what he thought was a very complimentary cologne.  
“Did you-“ He turned to face Eren just as the boy scooted closer to him, and Armin felt his courage drain away from his chest and be replaced with the heavy beating of his heart; with Eren draping an arm across the backrest, Armin was suddenly cuddled into the crook of Eren’s arm – like (oh boy) they were a couple! Armin eyed the other, who was facing the TV like he was unaware of the situation he himself had created: he looked so handsome, and his hair looked tamed underneath his hat – as if he’d made an effort. Armin had to wonder, had Eren made an effort to look good today?  
“So!” Eren suddenly cleared his throat, which had Armin sitting more upright, like a spell was broken. “‘Love, actually’ it is,” the boy declared and leaned forward to pick up the remote from the table. His arm remained on the furniture behind Armin, but as he hit play, he leaned sideways towards the other, and Armin felt instantly warm against his side where they touched. Eren gave a low out-of-place chuckle, and moved his leg to rub up against Armin’s. Neither of them moved. And so, for the next hour and a half, they watched in silence, warm, unmoving except for their chests rising and sinking calmly together. By the time the movie ended, Armin was internally begging that it would loop without Eren noticing, just because he didn’t want their touching to end. Their intimate closeness had almost lulled him into a confortable trance and he never wanted it to end; he didn’t want to talk, he just wanted to sit there next to Eren forever. This was good, this was enough, this was safe. 

As the credits rolled, Eren slowly took a deep breath and his leg moved; he stretched it out and made a low squeak as he stretched. The side of Armin’s leg felt cold without Eren’s next to it – but even more so, he noticed he was clammy from the heat. It brought a prickly blush to his cheeks, as he knew Eren had to notice as well, and the elephant in the room would be: why didn’t they move apart earlier, if it was uncomfortably warm sitting this close?  
“Ghhh… so, it ended well this year too, huh?” Eren threw his arms up now, and sank halfway down from his seat in his stretch.  
Armin chuckled, feeling ever colder and clammier down his side as they came apart. “Yeah.” His heart was sinking; he’d started believing there would be a less casual end to this between the two of them. What was going on between them? Had he been making all the romantic undertones up in his head?  
“Haha, man, we totally forgot we had popcorn,” Eren supplied after he’d stretched for a while without Armin offering another word. Gesturing towards the untouched bowl on the table, he sat back into his seat and let his arms land, this time around Armin’s shoulders. “Say, maybe Mikasa couldn’t make it after all…” He sounded odd, his fingers twitching and fidgeting with Armin’s sweater.  
“It’s unlike her not to let us know,” Armin pondered, stomach twisting with confusion and hope. Maybe he should just do it? Right now? Get it over with? Eren obviously didn’t mind being close with him, so how badly could this truly go?  
He took a deep breath. “Eren,… I-“  
And then the doorbell rang. Of course it did. At first, Armin didn’t even recognize what the sound was, he was so focused on what he was doing, but the noise rang so loud in his mind it broke him off anyway.  
Eren didn’t seem to flinch, however: he leaned closer and stared hard into Armin’s eyes like he was looking for something, waiting. When Armin didn’t continue, and he broke the stare to look towards the hall, Eren sighed and pulled his hand away before getting up. “I’ll get it,” he mumbled. 

For the next few hours, the trio watched movies and shared snacks like they always did. It was a lot of fun, although, Armin was eagerly awaiting the night. He knew Mikasa would call it a night earlier than him and Eren. After midnight. The morning of Christmas eve – that was going to be it! For sure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I had to neglect this series and rush this and upcoming chapters. I hope you can still enjoy. Merry Christmas!

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a daily advent calendar fic, but it looks like I won't be able to update quite as often after all. It will still be completed on December 25th, only I can't say yet how many days will be updated between 1st and 25th. Stay tuned for a possible nsfw bonus chapter on new years eve ;) Please enjoy!


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